At this time of year, hope takes center stage. Children draw up lists of presents they hope Santa will deliver. Everyone who lives north of a certain point hopes for a picturesque white Christmas -- enough snow to make it pretty but not enough to...

For many years, I thought the best way to get through life was to be prepared for the worst. Going into a situation, I'd envision the worst thing that could happen and how I would deal with it. I would be ready -- even if it rarely, if ever, came to...

I was on retreat last fall with a teacher whose message is to meet everything with compassion. "Enlightenment is when you meet all the pain in life with compassion," he said.
I don't know what that means, I said.

I remember the first time I saw a headline touting "mindfulness" on the cover of O, the Oprah
magazine, which also extolls the benefits of a $250 french fry maker and $300 Ugg boots. I was disconcerted. This was several years ago, and I was fairly...

There's a six-minute video of Louis C.K. on the Conan O'Brien Show explaining why he won't buy his daughter a smartphone that's making the rounds among Buddhist types, people who usually share quotes from the Dalai Lama and pictures of nature. Why?...

IDP member Angela Russo writes from China, where she is currently doing fieldwork, to share some of her experience with practice as she travels. Due to poor Internet connectivity, I am posting this on her behalf.

War begins when we harden our hearts, and we harden them easily -- in minor ways and then in serious, major ways, such as hatred and prejudice -- whenever we feel uncomfortable. It's so sad, really, because our motivation in hardening our hearts is...

You can tell whether something is an aspiration or a god -- whether it's an intention to work toward something or a desire to simply have it -- by the tension around it.
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Starting a new piece of writing is a fantastic opportunity to practice.
A few weeks ago I wrote about how to tackle the smushy blob of too much work. But often when you’re beginning a piece of creative writing, there is no clear path from

In developing mindfulness through meditation, we're advised to drop the storyline and simply be aware of what's happening in the moment.
For instance, in this moment, I'm sitting in the largely empty newsroom of a daily newspaper. It's bit chilly...

“There are beings everywhere. That is the problem” Ponlop Rinpoche said when I saw him speak a few months ago.
We mistakenly think that our experience and our comfort in each moment are more important than that of others. At times I notice that I am...

“…feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we’re holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in...

After about five years of meditating like my life depended on it, I hit a wall. For the past two months, getting my butt on the cushion has been a struggle and a constant internal negotiation process. Summer felt good. Life felt good. Samsara...

You’re the only one who knows when you’re opening and when you’re closing. You’re the only one who knows when you’re using things to protect yourself and keep your ego together and when you’re opening and letting things fall apart, letting the world...